I have photos, buit am having difficulty publishing this. I'll try to do photos separately.
This afternoon, we took 17 of the girls (grades 4 – 6) to
the 1st annual Nyama Choma Festival.
Nyama Chomo is traditionally a grilled goat item, but it has expanded to
include beef and chicken. This event was a fundraiser for the Karen Rotary, of
which Kate is a member. Janet Mathengi, member of the Hekima Board of Trustees
and President of the Karen Rotary, was in charge of the Festival. The proceeds
are to be used for fighting malaria. Kate had bought tickets for everyone, but
that only got us in the door. We gave
the girls money to spend to buy nyama choma for lunch and treats. Kate gave
them instructions to spend all the money we’d given them because she wanted to
support the Rotary. And they really enjoyed spending it! I did my part – in
addition to my lunch, I bought a bottle of nice red South African wine and a
Maasai carving of an ibis that is common in the area. The carving is going to
be a problem to get home. It is carved from olive wood, very dense, about 15
inches tall, a foot across, and weighs probably3- 4 pounds. That wouldn’t be a
problem, but my personal suitcase was close to the 50 pound limit already.
Maybe I’ll just have to leave some clothes here.
The girls had a great time. They ate lunch, then more sugar
than they’ve probably had in the past year. They had their faces painted and
danced on the bandstand. They participated (with much urging) in a contest I
can only describe as a ‘strutting’ competition. The highlight of the day was a
performance by the local rock sensation, Jua Cali. He was supposed to be on at
3:30 but that have been ‘Africa time’, because he didn’t appear until about
4:30. When he did show up, he got all the kids up on stage with him dancing –
quite the entertainer! He invited one of our girls to sing with him, but she
was too shy. After his performance he posed with the girls for a photo. They
were thrilled! And we barely made it back to Hekima Place for dinner.
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